


Chapter 2: The Hunt

by Morganatique9



Category: Community (TV)
Genre: Comedy, F/M, Gen, Scavenger hunt prompt, Solving Riddles, Teamwork, banters, drinking alcohol, drinking game, prompt, teaming up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-11
Updated: 2020-11-11
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:27:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27515320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morganatique9/pseuds/Morganatique9
Summary: The study group goes on an odd scavenger hunt set by the Dean.
Relationships: Annie Edison/Jeff Winger, Troy Barnes/Britta Perry
Comments: 14
Kudos: 21
Collections: Community Discord Scavenger Hunt





	Chapter 2: The Hunt

**Author's Note:**

  * For [CeleryLapel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CeleryLapel/gifts).



> So here is my take on the prompt set by CeleryLapel in The Set Up, which you can find in the collection Community Discord Scavenger Hunt. You should definitely read it first if you want to read the second chapter. And of course, you should read Amrywiol's take on it as well, along with the other writers' takes that will be published in the following days.
> 
> Every writer in the Community Discord #fan-fics channel have a brilliant mind and insane talent, so make sure to check their works out if you haven't yet!
> 
> In the meantime, here's my dorky humble take on the Scavenger Hunt prompt. Hope you'll enjoy, feedback is greatly appreciated :D

***

After the Dean and Agnes walked out of the study room, the group rushed out of it by the other entrance, running towards no destination in particular and yelling inaudible things. At some point, Jeff stepped aside and authoritatively lifted his hands in the air in front of him to make his friends stop moving at once.

“Guys, guys, GUYS!” Jeff shouted to be heard through the hubbub. “We need to settle down for a minute and think, we don’t even know where we’re going right now!”

“Didn’t you listen to what the Dean said, Jeff?” Britta exclaimed, out of breath. “We will all have an automatic A for whatever class we choose if we figure out this scavenger hunt! I need that A for the exam of my Wasting Time on the Internet class, I’ve been failing throughout the entire semester!”

“How is it even possible to fail an exam in which you just _literally_ have to waste time on the Internet, Britta??” Jeff interjected, astounded.

“There are so many intellectually enlightening activities to do on the Internet, why would I waste my time on it on purpose instead of educating myself?” Britta pointed out passionately.

“THEN WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THAT CLASS IN THE FIRST PLACE??” Jeff yelled, losing his temper.

“Guys, stop it!” Annie intervened, stepping between Jeff and Britta to calm them down. “Jeff is right, we need to be clever about this and think about how we’re going to handle the situation.”

“Of course you’d agree with Jeff.” Britta scoffed while rolling her eyes.

“That’s way beside the point, Britta.” Annie said coldly. “I, too, want us to succeed, because for once in the history of the Dean’s weird schemes that get the school upside down, this one actually seems pretty reasonable and all of us will benefit from it if we succeed. So let’s take the matter into our hands and work together, as a team.”

“But isn’t it a little bit weird, though?” Shirley chimed in shyly. “I mean, the Dean hasn’t put us all against each other into a raging fight like it happened for paintball, and the price is something we are all going to benefit from. He surely has something in mind, we need to consider that as well.”

“Sure, I’ll consider it after we win.” Jeff said, to which Shirley rolled her eyes and sighed.

“We need to think fast guys, we only have until tonight at eight.” Abed reminded them.

“I guess I’ll have to call Andre and tell him to have dinner with the boys without me…” Shirley said sadly.

“I should then inform Juanita that she doesn’t need to cook dinner for me tonight.” Pierce added, taking his phone out of his bag.

“Who the hell is Juanita?” Jeff asked Pierce, annoyed by the fact they were already losing time with their jibber-jabber.

“My housemaid, of course.” Pierce scoffed haughtily.

“Of course.” Jeff repeated sarcastically.

“Voice command: send text to Housemaid twenty-seven, long – day – at – school – today – you – can – eat – the – paninis – without – me.” Pierce said loudly and distinctly into his phone.

“Noted, ‘long day at school today you can eat the penises without me’ sent to Housemaid twenty-seven.” The voice command said in a robotic voice.

“Perfec – wait, what the hell??” Pierce hollered when he heard the misunderstood word. “Don’t send that, you idiot!” He added while pounding on his phone.

“Noted, ‘you idiot’ sent to Housemaid twenty-seven.” The voice command.

“Oh, come on!!” Pierce exclaimed, reddened by the anger.

“You didn’t even save your housemaid’s number under her actual name in your contacts list?” Britta picked up on, scowling.

“Whatever, Juanita, Carlita, Gabriella, they’re all the same.” Pierce mumbled, squinting at his phone annoyingly.

“Oh my God, are you seriously –“

“Alright, we’re losing track here and Pierce’s racist comments are going to make us lose a precious amount of time.” Jeff interrupted Britta before she went on a rant against Pierce. “Let’s focus. First things first – did someone write down the clues the Dean gave us?”

“He didn’t even say the whole list, five out of twenty-five isn’t going to be helpful.” Abed remarked.

“Good thing I stole the list from the Dean when he wasn’t looking, then.” Annie proudly said before showing said list in her hands.

“God Annie, you’re amazing.” Jeff said before taking her in his arms.

“Don’t start you two, I’m here for the good grade, not for this unholy nonsense!” Shirley protested, giving Jeff and Annie the stink eye.

“Yeah I think none of us want to put up with that today.” Britta instantly approved, narrowing her eyes.

“Okay, we should start by splitting up the group, then.” Jeff suggested, ignoring his friends’ remarks.

“Like the Scooby-gang does?” Troy pointed out, making a scared face.

“Things never end well when they do that in horror movies.” Abed added seriously. “They split up, then someone gets murdered, usually one of the girls who shriek when they’re afraid, and it’s a real chaos.”

“I think the chances of that happening in our case are very low, Abed.” Jeff contradicted, feeling more and more annoyed by the time stalling.

“You never know.” Abed shrugged. “Either way, if we’re splitting up, I don’t want to team up with Annie.”

Annie gasped and laid widened eyes on Abed, disconcerted.

“Are you insinuating I’m the shrieking girl who gets murdered in a horror movie, Abed?” Annie exclaimed, visibly offended.

“Nobody is getting murdered today, okay??” Jeff chimed in angrily. “Unless we keep on losing our time like this, otherwise, I’ll gladly do the murdering!”

“Damn, that went dark real quick.” Troy winced, approved by Abed nodding.

“Abed, please, organize the teams, I don’t want us to lose time over something stupid like this now.” Jeff asked his friend.

“Why aren’t you doing it yourself?” Britta asked Jeff, crossing her arms against her chest.

“Because I know very well my choices will be criticized and contested, so I’d rather let Abed choose for all of us, he’s the only one who can remain impartial.”

The rest of the group eventually nodded to approve Jeff’s thinking and then focused on Abed, who was silently thinking, his hand holding his chin as he was looking at the sky in a pensive manner.

“Since we’re not an even number, we’ll have to do either three-four or three-three-one.” Abed then explained. “What do you guys prefer?”

“Three-four, obviously.” Jeff answered for the rest of them.

“Too bad, it would’ve been the perfect occasion to get rid of Pierce…” Shirley muttered between clenched teeth.

“True but we will work faster together.” Abed said. “Okay, so, I think it would be interesting to mix the usual pairings up a little bit for a change, this way, the audience won’t get bored. So I suggest Pierce, Jeff, Britta and me, and for the other group, Annie, Troy and Shirley.”

Even though Jeff wanted Abed to do the organization in order to quickly deal with this, he couldn’t help but lay disappointed eyes on Annie, who simultaneously did the exact same thing.

“Ugh these two are impossible!” Britta said, infuriated when she noticed what they were doing. “Abed, I’ll gladly switch with Annie, if you don’t mind, I don’t want to hear them whine about the fact they couldn’t team up together.”

“All of that to be on Troy’s team, clever Britta.” Jeff taunted her.

“Wh – that’s stupid! _You_ ’re stupid!” Britta stammered, her cheeks suddenly blushed.

“Okay, so new teams: Pierce, Jeff, Annie and me, and the other one, Britta, Troy and Shirley.” Abed said solemnly.

“Perfect, I’m going to make a copy of the clues’ list and then, we’re good to go.” Annie exclaimed while dancing around.

“Okay, I just have one condition before we start.” Jeff said while putting a finger in the air.

“I thought you wanted to start quickly, what now??” Shirley exclaimed in a high pitched voice.

“… I can’t put up with this without alcohol.” Jeff sternly confessed.

***

After Annie made a copy of the Dean’s clues and gave it to Shirley, both teams split up on different places of campus to figure out the riddles. They had decided the first half of the clues would be studied by Jeff’s team whereas the other half by Shirley’s team.

Since it was already the late afternoon and the night sky was slowly starting to replace the blue and sunny sky, Jeff’s request to add a little fun to the hunt by drinking some alcohol was granted. After finding Duncan’s hidden booze stash in his office, they took two bottles of wine and two bottles of whisky with them. Eventually, the riddles solving for the scavenger hunt turned into some sort of drinking game. Whoever found the answer to a riddle could choose someone on their team to drink a specified number of sips. The harder the riddle, the more they had to drink, obviously.

Jeff, Abed, Annie and Pierce were currently working on the riddles in the cafeteria. Pierce was lying down on the couch in front of the coffee machines while Jeff, Annie and Abed were spread out on the floor below the couch, slouching on top of each other. Both the bottle of wine and the bottle of whisky were halfway emptied and now that half of their riddles were decrypted, the four of them were a little bit inebriated.

After yawning loudly, Annie grabbed the list resting on Jeff’s chest and lifted her arms straight above her in order to read it. Jeff’s head was casually resting on her legs while Annie’s head was resting on Abed’s legs.

“Okay, so far, we have typewriter, dictionary, desk, tulip, clock, candle, sponge and piano, ready for the next one?” Annie announced as clearly as possible.

“Shoot.” Jeff approved before taking a sip of whisky directly from the bottle.

“I am black when I am clean, but I turn white when I am dirty.” Annie read distinctively.

“Well, that’s racist.” Pierce remarked in an offended voice.

“A chalkboard.” Abed quickly answered.

“Well done, Abed.” Annie said joyfully as she wrote down Abed’s suggestion next to the riddle.

“Pierce, take a sip.” Abed then said, turning his head towards the couch.

“That’s not fair, you’re all only giving sips to me!” Pierce protested before taking a sip of wine.

“It’s not our fault you haven’t solved any riddle so far.” Jeff pointed out, which made Annie chuckle.

“Okay, next one – with pointed fangs I sit and wait; with piercing force I crunch out fate; grabbing victims, proclaiming might; physically joining with a single bite.” Annie read solemnly. “Huh, this one’s harder than the previous ones.”

“Hah, losers.” Pierce guffawed. “That’s obviously a vampire.”

“The Dean said the riddles were for _items_ , Pierce, and as far as I know, vampires don’t exist.” Jeff retorted in an annoyed tone.

“That we know of.” Abed added, which made Pierce want to high five with him but Abed ignored it.

“Well, so far, we’ve found objects from the daily life, pretty much, so it must be something ordinary.” Annie thought out loud.

“I don’t see how a tulip, a typewriter and a piano are part of someone’s daily life, Annie.” Jeff remarked.

“Come on, it’s _the Dean_ we’re talking about.” Annie retorted meaningfully.

“There’s actually a vase with tulips in it on Agnes’ desk.” Abed chimed in.

“Well, that’s an interesting clue, it could definitely mean these objects have something to do with the Dean’s ordinary life.” Annie said in a hopeful tone, taking some notes in a tiny fluffy notebook.

“That’s great but we still need to find out what the vampire riddle is.” Jeff pointed out.

“Easy. It’s a stapler.” Annie smugly said.

“Wh – you said it was hard just two seconds ago!” Jeff protested.

“Well, I had time to think during those two seconds. And because of your reaction, I’m going to give you two sips, Jeff.” Annie retorted with a smirk.

“Ugh!” Jeff sighed before grabbing the bottle of whisky.

“Okay, next one – ooh, should be easy, what has legs, but doesn’t walk?” Annie read.

“Easy, Eartha Kitt after the airplane bathroom’s –“

Both Jeff and Annie yelled at Pierce to interrupt him right away before he could finish his gross sentence while Abed stared at them with bewilderment.

“Pierce, can’t you take this seriously for a minute and actually help us out?” Annie complained, her eyebrows frowned.

“I’m sorry Annie, I’m actually trying to help out but you buffoons keep on pulling the rug from under me!” Pierce ranted.

“You’re not helping, you’re just saying one inappropriate thing after the other.” Jeff chimed in. “And it’s already six so I would like for us to hurry up and finish this hunt before eight. Oh, and the answer is table, and I’m giving Pierce three sips, two for his gross comment and one for his irrelevance.”

“You know, the more we’re solving these riddles, the more I’m confused as to where the Dean is trying to lead us.” Annie then said before re-reading the list, while Pierce mumbled and drank. “All of these things are supposed to be in the same room, here, at Greendale?”

“Well, that’s what it sounded like when he explained it to us, at least.” Jeff answered. “It wouldn’t even surprise me to find a room filled with random objects like this – after all, we’re at _Greendale_. Need I remind you there are pool tables in the gymnasium?”

“The Dean never really specified where we could find all of these objects.” Abed pointed out, looking reflective. “He just said they would all be found together, so it doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll be in a room.”

“Great, it complicates things even more now.” Jeff sighed.

“We’ll figure it out, we don’t have many items left to find.” Annie said cheerfully, to which Jeff smiled at her. “Okay, next riddle – what is cut on a table but is never eaten?”

“A deck of cards.” Pierce instantly answered.

“Pierce, stop saying random answ – oh shoot, he’s actually right this time.” Jeff interrupted himself, looking puzzled.

“And for that, my friend Jeffrey, I’ll humbly give you ten sips.” Pierce smugly said with a sadistic look.

“Damn it. I might have to sleep in my car tonight.” Jeff pointed out before taking the bottle of whisky.

***

Meanwhile, Shirley, Britta and Troy were in a lab’s classroom, Shirley standing in front of the whiteboard in order to use it to brainstorm, as for Britta and Troy, they were both sitting on the same table next to each other, the bottle of wine held carefully between Britta’s legs and the bottle of whisky laid on the teacher’s desk. They were not doing a drinking game, like the other team, but they were however casually drinking to stimulate their inspiration. Was it successful? Well, not all the time.

“Okay team, what do we have next?” Shirley asked in a singing voice.

“It’s so weird, I really feel like we’re students and you’re our teacher, Shirley.” Troy remarked, which made Britta nod.

“Brit-ta, please, would you be a dear and read our next riddle?” Shirley asked Britta without picking up on Troy’s remark.

“Sure.” Britta said before clearing her throat and holding the copied list Annie had given them in front of her eyes. “If you drop me I’m sure to crack, but give me a smile and I’ll always smile back.”

“Hmm. Interesting.” Shirley said reflectively.

“Easy.” Troy suddenly said. “That’s Britta.”

An awkward silence followed as Shirley and Britta were both looking at Troy inquisitively.

“What do you mean by that, sweetie?” Shirley asked Troy in a soft voice, even though she was frowning.

“Well, that’s obvious, ain’t it?” Troy said with a sarcastic laugh. “Britta’s always smiling when I’m smiling at her, but I know she’s fragile and can be sad if we drop her, you know.”

Britta’s eyes softened at Troy’s explanation and she couldn’t take her eyes off him as he was still staring at the whiteboard, waiting for Shirley to write his answer.

“Well, that’s… an interesting take but we have to find an item Troy, not a person.” Shirley gently explained with a smile. “Brit-ta, honey, do you have any idea?”

“Hmm…” Britta said, still a little taken aback by Troy’s explanation. “Let me think, hmm, something that cracks when we drop it, always smile when we smile back… Oh, duh-doy!” She suddenly exclaimed while tapping her forehead two times. “It’s easy, it’s a mirror!”

Shirley squealed excitingly before writing it on the whiteboard. In the meantime, Troy and Britta made eye-contact and genuinely smiled at each other. Eventually, Britta looked away, took a sip of wine and focused back on the list.

“Okay, so, next riddle – I begin with an “e” and only contain one letter.” Britta read out loud.

The three of them reflected for a few seconds to look for the answer, as it was probably the hardest riddle they’d had to solve since the beginning. Eventually, Shirley clapped her hands together, which made Troy and Britta flinch.

“An envelope!” Shirley exclaimed before writing it.

“Of couuuurse…” Britta whispered, disappointed she didn’t think about it earlier. “Hey, why do you think the Dean sent us on this randomly crazy hunt, huh?”

“Well, I’m definitely sure there’s a hidden agenda behind all of this.” Shirley answered in a raspy voice. “But as long as I’m having the A I need, I won’t complain.”

“True.” Britta said before clearing her throat. “Okay, next one - what piece of wood is like a king?”

“Ooh, hmm…” Shirley let out, pausing to think.

“A ruler.” Troy suddenly said, his face lit up.

“Yay Troy, very smart!” Britta said while giving him a high five. “We only have three riddles left, let’s go.”

At the same time, all of their phones buzzed on the tables. They all took a look at their screen to see the text message Abed had just sent.

“They’ve found all of their riddles, we better hurry up.” Britta said before focusing on the list again.

***

Around 6.30 P.M, both teams met back in the study room to share their findings and piece everything together. Everyone took their usual seat after Shirley and Annie put down both of the lists with their answers to the riddles on the table.

“Damn, what happened to all of you?” Britta asked as she noticed Jeff, Pierce and Annie looked giddy.

“We’ve decided to make the riddles solving a drinking game.” Abed responded as Jeff and Annie giggled together. “It was a fun banter but as you can see, these three can’t hold their liquor.”

“I know, Pierce is almost snoring on the table.” Britta remarked with an amused smile as she was looking at Pierce, who had his eyes half closed.

“So, let’s get this over with, shall we?” Shirley suggested while taking a look at both of the lists. “Here are all the twenty-five items we had to look for, then – typewriter, dictionary, desk, tulip, clock, candle, sponge, piano, chalkboard, stapler, table, deck of cards, window, staircase, mirror, envelope, ruler, rubber band, book, map, chair, stamp, coin, keyboard and light.”

“What does it make you think about, guys?” Annie asked lightly.

“A cheap version of a Cluedo game.” Jeff answered honestly, which made Troy giggle.

“Jeff, focus here, we’re almost done with this nonsense!” Britta exclaimed while snapping her fingers in front of Jeff’s eyes. “The Dean said all these items were connected together and could be found all together. Where do you think it’s possible for us to find them?”

“Maybe it’s in the Dean’s office?” Annie suggested.

“If it weren’t for the piano, I’d probably support this theory.” Jeff added, to which Abed and Shirley nodded.

“Piano, you son of a bitch…” Troy muttered between clenched teeth with a serious face.

As the group was brainstorming and thinking out loud together, all of a sudden, the lights in the study room went off. At the same time, an eerie piano music resonated in the speakers against the walls. Everyone flinched and screamed out of surprise. When Annie shrieked loudly, Abed couldn’t help but say “called it”, to which Annie scolded him instantly. As the piano chords that could be heard in the speakers were getting faster and faster, they saw a shadow in the doorway, which made them scream another time.

“What the hell is going on right now??” Jeff protested, having sobered up at once.

“Deaaaan-ga-lin-ga-lin!!” A high-pitched voice sang.

All of a sudden, the music stopped and the power went on again, lighting up the room and allowing the group to discover who the shadow in the hallway was. When they recognized who it was, they all sighed in unison.

“I don’t even know why we haven’t seen this coming.” Jeff remarked as the Dean walked into the room.

The Dean was parading in the study room with a satisfied smile on his face. He was dressed up in yet another one of his fanciful costumes – this time, he was wearing a houndstooth detective hat, with a pipe in his mouth and a magnifying glass against his eye. A beige trench coat was tight against his body, covering a white shirt and a vividly colorful tie. White gloves were protecting his hands. Then, his legs were adorned by some brown houndstooth pants and black derby shoes.

Agnes, wearing the exact same clothes as earlier, was standing behind him, looking uncontestably unnerved.

“Soooo, has my favorite little study group solved all the riddles yet?” The Dean then asked in a cheerful voice. “It’s almost the deadline!”

“As a matter of fact, we have.” Annie proudly said.

“And may I add half of us were drunk while doing it so it should give us the right to ask for two A’s.” Jeff pointed out, strongly approved by Britta.

“Ah ah aaaah, Jeffery, you little rascal.” The Dean laughed while laying a hand on Jeff’s shoulder under Jeff’s stink eye. “Okay, show me what you’ve got, then.”

Britta handed the two pieces of paper on which their answers were written to the Dean, who proceeded into scrupulously reading them. Along his reading, he was making some onomatopoeia, such as “hmm-hmm” or “hah”. Soon enough, he lifted his head up and put the lists back on the table before clapping his hands vigorously.

“ _Bravo_!” He cried happily. “You solved it all!”

All members of the group cheered themselves excitingly, even Pierce, who had slowly woken up from his drunken nap for the occasion.

“Yeah yeah, congratulations, you’re all very talented, I’ll give you that.” The Dean eventually added, adjusting his hat on his head.

“What’s with the costume, Dean?” Abed then asked.

“Yeah, it’s not your usual… style.” Jeff pointed out with a furrowed eyebrow.

“Oh, that?” The Dean exclaimed while looking at his costume before giggling. “Why, it’s to match the scavenger hunt theme, of course!”

“Yeah, what’s in it for you, by the way?” Shirley asked suspiciously.

“I’ll tell you after you give me the final answer.” The Dean answered maliciously. “Did you find the connection between those twenty-five items?”

The group remained speechless after the Dean’s question. They had almost forgotten the hunt was not completely over yet.

“Now now, come on, do I really need to give one last clue?” The Dean pouted dramatically.

“If you don’t, I’ll leave Greendale and enroll in City College because I actually really want to go home now.” Jeff threatened half-jokingly, half-seriously.

“No need to say such harmful things, Jeffrey!” The Dean exclaimed, resting a hand on his chest with a shocked look on his face. “Of course I’ll gladly give you another clue, you’ve been taking this whole hunt so seriously and I’m very appreciative of that.”

A beat. A silence settled for a few seconds, as the Dean was trying to instore some suspense before his reveal. However, that dramatic effect was not welcomed by everyone.

“I have children to take care of, Dean Pelton so just go to the point now.” Shirley said in an aggravated tone.

“Fine!” The Dean conceded, sighing disappointingly. “The clue is that… All of the items are to be found in this very room.”

As the seven members of the study group instantly began to look around them, they were looking even more disconcerted and confused than before.

“I don’t understand.” Jeff admitted, nervously scraping the back of his neck.

“WHERE IS THE DAMN PIANO??” Troy yelled, throwing his fist into the table.

“Calm down Troy, we can figure this out.” Abed said smoothly to calm his friend down.

“I have to side with Troy on that one, what the hell is up with that piano, Dean??” Jeff exclaimed, raising his hands into the air.

“I think the more logical question would be – how in the hell did you fit all of these items in here?” Shirley pointed out, puzzled.

“Well, I didn’t say they were _in_ the room, per say.” The Dean rectified with a mischievous smile.

“Okay, I give up, I’m too hammered for that crap.” Pierce suddenly said.

Everyone except Pierce kept on looking around to figure out the Dean’s clue. Annie looked under the table, Jeff stood up and walked towards the locker, opening it to see if anything was in it. Britta even crouched down and looked attentively at the floor.

Eventually, it was Abed who finally pieced all of the puzzle together. As he was carefully scanning the room for the answer, he stumbled upon something that instantly caught his eye. Frowning, he got up, walked towards the whiteboard at the other end of the room, passing behind the Dean and Agnes. Indeed, on the whiteboard, there was a picture that Abed was certain he had never seen before. It wasn’t very big but it was large enough to draw his attention. As he slowly studied it, it was like something clicked in his head and as he could hear his friends arguing in the background, he turned around to be able to look at them and smiled before opening his mouth.

“Found it.” He simply said.

At first, no one heard it and the arguing kept on going, louder and louder. Therefore, Abed cleared his throat and formed a circle with his hands before putting them against his mouth and preparing himself to speak again.

“I FOUND THE ANSWER TO THE DEAN’S CLUE!” Abed yelled.

This time, a silence followed his revelation and everyone was now staring at him, the Dean with a pleased look on his face, Agnes with utter disdain and the others looking completely befuddled. Abed swallowed and pointed at the picture on the whiteboard.

“See this?” He asked rhetorically to his friends. “It wasn’t here when we left the study room earlier.”

“Are you sure, Abed?” Annie asked him. “People come and put stuff here pretty much all the time, maybe we just hadn’t paid attention to it until now.”

“I’m very observant, Annie.” Abed retorted. “I’ve memorized every single thing in that room. Of course I’m sure.”

“Well, care to elaborate, please?” Jeff said in a sigh. “I don’t want to spend all night here.”

“If you look close enough, you can see that it’s a painting of a room.” Abed explained while taking the picture in his hand and walking back to his friends. “And in that room, there are every single one of our items.”

“Congratulations, Mister Nadir, it’s right on point.” The Dean said as the others took a look at the picture.

“Abed, you’re a genius.” Britta said before briefly hugging him.

“Wait, why am I in this painting?” Jeff suddenly asked, taking a close look at it. “And why am I lying naked on… oh, the freaking piano, obviously.” He added in a sigh, handing the picture to whoever was next to him. “Never mind, forget I asked, I don’t want to know.”

“Well, congratulations study group, you’ve successfully solved the hunt!” The Dean then exclaimed, which made the group cheer.

“Awesome, now if you’ll excuse me, I have an apartment waiting for me to come back.” Jeff sarcastically said before walking.

“Wait Jeff, it’s probably not safe for you to be driving right now.” Annie exclaimed before running behind him to catch up to him.

“I’ve sobered up Annie, don’t worry about me, I’m more than capable of driving.” Jeff reassured her softly.

“Well… I’d still feel better knowing you got home safe, so… I’ll come with you.” Annie insisted, puffing her chest to sound more assertive.

“Are you sure? I hope you realize you’re not going to drive the Lexus.” Jeff taunted her before starting walking again.

“Too bad, I thought maybe you’d be drunk enough to overlook it.” Annie teased him back.

As Jeff and Annie were walking away from the study room, everyone was also getting ready to leave. Troy was gathering his bag and belongings when he noticed Britta was standing next to him, hands nervously clenched against her.

“You okay?” Troy asked her, frowning curiously.

“Yeah, hmm, I just… I just wanted to tell you what you said earlier in the lab room was… oddly very sweet.” Britta stammered, pursing her lips afterwards.

“Oh.” Troy let out, surprised. “You think?”

“Yeah… I mean, taken out of its context, it sounded a little weird but… I know the thought behind it was kind, so… I just wanted you to know that.”

Troy’s lips slowly turned into a smile at Britta’s comment, which soothed her instantly.

“Do you… maybe want to go grab a bite somewhere?” Troy nervously asked her.

“S – sure.” Britta answered. “Let’s do that.”

“Awesome.”

After Troy and Britta left together, Abed woke Pierce up from his second drunken nap so that he could go home. Pierce swiftly left the room, barely saying goodbye to the others. Abed and Shirley were then the only ones left with the Dean and Agnes, who still hadn’t moved an inch.

“I’m not leaving until you tell us what the goal of all of this was.” Shirley remarked, squinting her eyes.

“Ugh, fine.” The Dean said while rolling his eyes. “Agnes, would you care to explain my motives to Miss Bennett here?”

“Sure, it’s not like I’m not getting paid for doing extra hours.” Agnes plainly said in a sarcastic tone. “Mister Pelton is writing a novel and since every member of your little group is starring in it, he needed inspiration for a scavenger hunt chapter.”

“Oh.” Shirley let out, surprised. “I… expected something more twisted than that, actually.”

“Do you want me to do a movie adaptation of this novel?” Abed asked the Dean.

“When the time is right, Abed.” The Dean responded humbly. “When the time is right.”


End file.
